The Delirium Care Process Model: An interactive flowchart to standardize and inform delirium diagnosis and care

Unmet Need

In the United States, the geriatric population was estimated to be about 55.8 million in 2020, comprising 17% of the total population. The size of this population is only expected to increase as people continue to live longer. This, in turn causes an increase in prevalence of geriatric syndromes such as delirium, which are difficult for clinicians to learn, teach, and manage. Current resources including primary scientific literature, clinical guides, and practice tools take time to review and do not provide an easy-to-use resource to refer to in the clinical setting. Additionally, clinicians that manage these patients often have limited exposure to geriatrics and are non-geriatricians. Thus, there is a need for an educational tool for clinicians of varying backgrounds to standardize to easily diagnose geriatric syndromes such as delirium.

Technology

Duke inventors have developed an interactive flowchart as an educational tool to assist in diagnosing and treating delirium in geriatric patients to increase their quality of care. This is intended to be used by clinicians of all backgrounds that may need to diagnose or treat delirium including both geriatricians and non-geriatricians. Specifically, the flowchart walks the user through the process of diagnosing and treating a patient with delirium through three layers of information, each tailored to the needs of the user. The first, most basic layer consists of a brief, high-level overview of the process and actions to diagnose and treat a patient with suspected delirium. Each step within the first layer contains an additional second layer of information which can be accessed by clicking on the step. This allows the user to access supporting information on how to complete the specific step. The second layer is linked to the third and final layer, which displays a page with links to scientific literature and sources, providing a deeper understanding of why a clinician should perform the step. This flowchart is also termed a GeriGuide and is part of a suite of flowcharts used to diagnose and treat several geriatric conditions including cognitive impairment and osteoporosis. Each guide was edited and reviewed by Dr. Tracey Holsinger, an associate professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Duke University.

Advantages

• Standard method to diagnose and treat delirium in geriatric patients
• Interactive flowchart with three layers of information
• Easy to use by all clinicians